Believing in Life after Death appears to be common in all human societies. Dating back to the ancient times, the view that life after death is a life without bodies is still present. This view is largely associated with Dualism; this is something that largely influenced Christianity. Dualism is the belief that the human being consists of two identities, the ‘physical self’ and the ‘spiritual self’. The physical self is the body and spiritual self is the soul and lives on after the body dies. There are two main types of disembodied life after death. These are; life after death as a disembodied spirit that keeps its human identity e.g. ghosts, and life after death as a disembodied spirit that loses its human identity e.g. becoming one with nature. Thomas Aquinas has stated how the soul can exist separately from the body as a’ spiritual substance’, this is objecting to any dualistic views, is the soul ‘the real you’? The catholic teaching of the beatific vision put forward by Thomas Aquinas appears to suggest that blessed souls receive an understanding of the mind of God.

Due to its focus on the resurrection of Jesus, Christianity has always placed a lot of emphasis on life after death. Christian beliefs about the afterlife vary between denominations and individual Christians, but the vast majority of Christians believe in some kind of heaven. Heaven is a place God has created to give righteous people everlasting reward and happiness with no suffering or disenjoyment after they die based on judgement. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. ‘’Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city. ” From Hebrews 11:15, this quotes tells us how the afterlife of righteous humans is eternal in God’s eyes therefore Christians look forward to their resurrected life.

As pointed out, Christians believe that those who are saved by God are rewarded with a...

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...Examine religious and non-religious beliefs about death and the beyond.
Across the world there are a multitude of different beliefs concerning death and the beyond. In Christianity there is the idea of rebirth into a soul body. Whilst in this soul body we are judged. This idea comes from the belief that all human beings are inherently sinful and therefore we must spend our lives trying to do Gods will and spread Christianity. "All mankind falls short of the glory of God" We are judged upon all actions within our lives, and upon our beliefs, and if we are deemed worthy then we enter the kingdom of heaven, yet if we are deemed unworthy, then we are cast into the great river of burning sulphur, and into oblivion. There are multiple interpretations of what happens to those who are deemed unworthy. It is most commonly taught that eternal suffering and damnation is punishment for not believing in God, but many more modern christians believe that there is only heaven and nothingness. You do not eternally suffer, but are punished with non-existence in any form. Islam and Judaism hold similar beliefs, although they do not believe that humans are inherently sinful, so they do not place such value in salvation or judgement, but still believe that in order to reach heaven, the blissful afterlife, you must believe in God, follow the scriptures and do good in the world.
Another religious perspective concerning lifeafter...

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Evaluate the claim that there can be no disembodied existence afterdeath.
Death is the end of the functions of one’s body, but is death the end? Dualists, who are those that believe the body and soul are separate entities, believe that there is lifeafterdeath, however materialists and monists, those who believe human beings are made up of one entity: the body, believe thatdeath is the cessation of life. Moreover, lifeafterdeath may be disembodied (separate from the body) as Plato argued, leaving the body to corrupt on earth, or life continues in some bodily form for the dead. Is the claim that there can be no disembodied existence afterdeath a valid one?
Firstly, Plato believed in disembodied existence afterdeath as he claimed that the soul and body were separate and that the soul was in the realm of the Forms and then was incarnated in the body. He also said that in the future, the soul will be freed from the body and will be reincarnated into another body or eventually return to the realm of the forms. Furthermore, Lewis, Descartes and Swinburne are also dualists and they argued that we exist beyond death as well. H.D. Lewis argued that we detect mental processes quite distinct from physical ones, suggesting...

...in this world, it would surely be death. Dying is an unavoidable part of life. Indeed, everything that lives will at sometime die. The fear of death is held by everyone. Perhaps it is the correlation of death with pain or the unknown state of the human consciousness afterdeath, maybe a combination of both, that creates this fear. The fear felt is undoubtedly universal, however, the ways in which it is dealt with are varied and diverse. The concept of human mortality and how it is dealt with is dependent upon one's society or culture. For it is the society that has great impact on the individual's beliefs. Hence, it is also possible for other cultures to influence the people of a different culture on such comprehensions. <br><br>The primary and traditional way men and women have made dying a less depressing and disturbing idea is though religion. Various religions offer the comforting conception of death as a beginning
for another life or perhaps a continuation for the former. Christians, for example, believe that souls that have lived by the words of their God will exist eternally in heaven as divine beings themselves. This conception of an afterlife is generally what we people who are residents of the Unitied States hold to be true. For American culture has its roots in Europe and European culture was and is still influenced by Christian faiths. Similar to...

...There can be different purposes in order to believe that lifeafterdeath exists. According to religious belief there are several ways in which people believe how their lifeafterdeath will be. For an instance in Buddhist philosophy, the way one act in their present life will determine their lifeafterdeath. It maybe in heaven or hell, it also can be reincarnation where a person will be born again in a good place as a human or in a bad place as a human or an animal. “Even death is not to be feared by one who has lived wisely. “Lord Buddha. Hinduism too believes in lifeafterdeath more prominently, Hinduism believes in the rebirth and reincarnations of souls which clearly direct the Hindus to have faith and rely on faith to believe the lifeafterdeath exist. The purpose of belief in lifeafterdeath can be taken as religious as well as the personal experience. Either way there should be faith in order to believe such a thing since many people can argue that these are imagined by people who are under blind faith or people who suffers from psychological break down after a shock. This is why there are various studies about this phenomenon using near death experience...

...NDE
“National Geographic Paranatural LifeAfterLife”
Near Death Experience (NDE) refers to the sensations reported by people who have come close to dying or were CLINICALY dead for a period of time so meaning their hearts had already stopped beating their brain is not running, their blood pressure isn’t stable, -- meaning, their bodies are not functioning as to what a person needs to be alive.
The people in the documentary such as Dr. Alexander, Christine Stein, and Anita Moojani claim of having meaningful experiences after all signs of hope is lost. Their stories of their journeys to the “unearthly realm” and when they get there, they feel the feeling of unconditional love and peace. All have the same gist but they are not 100% the same with each other.
People near death, and sometimes those who have been resuscitated after dying, report common experiences of peacefulness followed by separation from the body. At first there is darkness then seeing a source of light and moving into the light, sometimes through a tunnel. At this point, many turn or are turned to move back into the body. Sometimes they see family members that they haven’t seen personally e.g. Ancestors, dead grandparents, dead friends, and most of the time, a "presence" or a “voice” advises them that it is not yet the time for them to pass over. It is nearly always a very positive and -
A...

...A near death experience, also referred as NDE, is a psychological event that may occur when a person is close to death, or in a situation of suffering serious physical or emotional problems. Most NDE’s are peaceful and loving, but some are disturbing. All NDE’s are unique in a way, but as a group they share common features. During a NDE, individuals may feel intense emotions, commonly peace, well-being, and loved. Others are marked by fear, horror, and loss. Another common feature is a rapid movement through darkness, towards the light, towards the ‘end of the tunnel’. In some cases, there may be a perception of one’s body from above, sometimes watching medical resuscitation, or moving to other places. There are many other possibilities that may happen during NDE’s, such as hallucination of seeing loved ones, a sense of being somewhere else in an unearthly place.
The features of what NDE brings may lead to questions about afterlife. What happens if you walk towards the end of the light? Do you really see god? But all questions lead to the ultimate question of life; do NDE’s prove the existence of afterlife?
It is common that in NDE’s the dying person claims during their emergency, they actually observed events which were subsequently confirmed. These observations may have occurred in the emergency room when one was in no condition to be observing what was going on around them. Sometimes, the data are reported from a distance...

...Ruth Rasras
Professor Pease
English 101-1010
19 Apr. 2013
Arguments of the Afterlife:
Do Near Death Experiences Suggest Proof of LifeAfterDeath?
Throughout all recorded history mankind has battled to find answers to each and every one of life’s questions and to some avail found quite a few; still, one question that has yet to be answered pertains to the possibility of lifeafterdeath. Some argue that the idea of survival of consciousness without a body is extremely impractical and out of the question; however, when relying on only practical evidence alone it is hard to formulate a concrete theory. On the other hand, when we look at things such as cross-cultural studies on near death experiences and their underlying similarities we can utilize them as clues to suggest the possibility of an afterlife. Using both logic and intuition we should be able to gain some insight on the matter.
A near death experience (NDE) is a term that was originated by Dr. Raymond A. Moody in his bestseller LifeAfterLife, a book that has revolutionized the way many people see death (Morris, 1; C. Tan 1). According to Moody NDEs are visions of the afterlife that must happen to an individual under the conditions of one of the three following circumstances: being pronounced clinically dead; are close to...

...'Death, the ultimate experience, is for Dickinson the supreme touchstone. It reveals the ultimate truth or reality; it makes clear the true nature of God and the state of the soul. She held the common Puritan belief that the way a person died indicated the state of his/her soul, a peaceful death being a sign of grace and harmony with God. ‘ By reading Emily Dickinson’s poems, such as: ‘I heard a fly buzz when I died’, ‘Because I could not stop forDeath’, ‘I died for beauty, but was scarce’, ‘I never lost as much but twice’, we can see that ‘death’ is a topic she occasionally uses. We can say that her poems actually manifest her obsession with death and immortality, and how the loss of the desire to live causes death. She offers a creative and different perspective on the death and its effects on others, but also writing poetry about death was her way to cope with the loss of her beloved ones since she lost her mother, father, great number of friends and her nephew, and all that death around her affected her mind deeply. We also might presume that she had the great desire to explore the mystery of death and of the afterlife. In a poem ‘I heard a fly buzz when I died’ death ‘is painless, yet the vision of death it presents is horrifying, even gruesome.’ In this poem she deliberately left the process of dying...